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Political developments during this era saw the greatest changes in European governments, and by extension the government structures that they set up in the New World. New Gunpowder Empires emerged in other parts of the world, and in most cases, their rulers ruled absolutely, as did most of the rulers in Europe.
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Political and Social Transformation of Europe
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In 1450, the kingdoms in Europe were governed by rulers with only a tentative grasp of political power. They were fragmented and the political structures were still held together by feudal ties. Instead of uniting Europeans, their growing control of the new Atlantic system deepened the divisions among them. During the 16th century, the growing wealth of Spain tilted power toward the Habsburg family that ruled many lands in Europe, including Spain. By the end of the century, England and France were on the rise, and the rivalries among the countries were intense.
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Centralization of Government
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During this era between 1450 and 1750 some of the old feudal kings amassed enough power to allow their kingdoms to sponsor the expensive sea voyages necessary for colonization in the New World. Three powerful countries that emerged were Spain, England, and France. In all three cases these monarchs curbed the power of the nobility and built strong centralized regimes.
The new monarchs came up with new means of financing their ambitions, such as imposing new taxes, fines, and fees, and amassing large armies too powerful for individual nobles to match. The English king Henry VIII received a big windfall by confiscating the wealth of Catholic monasteries when he officially separated the English church from Rome. English kings also contained the power of the nobility by subjecting them to royal justice through the developing judicial system.
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Spanish Imperial Attempts
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Spain's newfound wealth in the 16th and 17th century was based largely on trade, and the vital link that their American colonies played in world circuits. A good example is provided by the famous Manila Galleons that for 250 years traveled back and forth across the Pacific Ocean between Manila in the Philippines and Acapulco on the west coast of Mexico. The galleons were vast and well armed, and they took Asian Luxury goods to Mexico, and returned with their hulls full of gold and silver. Most of the precious metals made their way into China, an inducement that convinced the Ming emperors to keep trade with outsiders alive. Meanwhile, some of the Asian silks and porcelain stayed in Mexico for use by the Spanish viceroys and other elites, but most of the goods went overland by Mexico to ships that carried them to Spain and other European markets. The Spanish rulers almost turned this wealth into domination of Europe, but not quite.
The Habsburgs were a family that not only ruled Spain but large parts of the Holy Roman Empire, that covered most of central Europe, as well as territory that is now the Netherlands and Belgium. Charles V, grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella for a time ruled it all. However, he was unable to coordinate the fragmented territories, with their various kings, princes, dukes, and bishops that still thought in feudalistic terms. Moreover, Charles had to defend his eastern territories from the growing Ottoman Empire. Under the Ottoman's great ruler, Suleiman the Magnificent, the Muslim army advanced all the way to the eastern European city of Vienna. There, in the fateful Siege of Vienna in 1529 Charles defeated the Ottomans and so protected Europe from further invasions. However, the Ottoman threat continued for years, they exacted a heavy toll on Charles' empires. So overstretched did he feel that he abdicated his throne and divided his lands between his brother Ferdinand, who received the Holy Roman Empire, and his son, Philip II, who became king of Spain.
Philip proved to be an able successor to his father, but he had many of the same problems. This time the Ottoman threat came from the Mediterranean, and even though Philip defeated them at the Battle of Lepanto, the Ottomans still dominated many of the lands that bordered the sea. Perhaps his most famous defeat was at the hands of Elizabeth I of England, where his supposedly invincible Spanish Armada was demolished by the small but quick English "seadogs." However, despite these setbacks, the Spanish still held great wealth and power at the end of the 16th century, and were envied by the other European countries, especially England, France, and the Netherlands.
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Absolutism VS Constitutionalism
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Most of the newly powerful European states, including Spain and France, developed into absolute monarchies, or governments in which the king held all power. Absolutism was reinforced by the belief in divine right, or the god-given authority to rule. According to divine right theory, kings were not gods but served as "God's lieutenants upon earth." In these countries, no one else had the right to share policymaking powers with the king, not even the nobility.
In France absolutism was shaped by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII in the early 17th century. He undermined the power of the nobility by burning their castles and crushing attempts to conspire against the king. He also built a large bureaucracy capable of collecting taxes efficiently and serving as the "eyes and ears" of the king. The most famous of the absolute French rulers was Louis XIV, who ruled for 72 years, finally dying in 1715. He designated himself the "Sun King," the magnetic center of all around him, and his often repeated, "L'etat c'est moi" (I am the state) expresses his unshakable belief in his absolute authority. He contained the nobles by inviting them to his huge, ornate palace at Versailles, where they were welcome to stay as long as they liked. Many stayed for long periods of time, enjoying the sumptuous life of unending banquets, hunting, dancing, and gossip circuits. Meanwhile, the nobles were away from their castles, unable to start any rebellions, and completely under the thumb of their clever king.
Other countries followed the French model, although generally less successfully. Rulers in Austria, Prussia, and Russia built huge palaces and sought to increase central control. Both Prussia and Russia had developed into formidable powers by 1750.
Elsewhere, in England and the Netherlands, a different government model was developing. Neither had a written constitution, but they both allowed limitations to be placed on the ruler's power. In England the nobility demanded and received the right to counsel with the king before he imposed new taxes, starting with William the Conqueror in the 11th century. The limitations were famously encapsulated in the Magna Carta of 1215, a document that listed the rights of nobility. From this right to counsel developed a "parliament" (literally a place to talk things over) that came to blows with King Charles I in the 1640s in the English Civil War. Parliament won this war, and even though the institution of the monarchy was eventually retained, it marks the turning point of power toward a limited, or "constitutional" government. In both England and the Netherlands, wealthy merchants were allowed to participate in government, partly because their continuing prosperity was vital to the states.
Whether they developed into absolute or constitutional monarchies, centralization of government in Europe was a vital step in building state power from the medieval feudalism. Without it, colonization, and eventually the building of vast, worldwide empires, would have been impossible.
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Changes in Social and Gender Structure
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With the growth of trade, European towns grew, and by 1700 Europe had large cities. Paris and London both had over 500,000 people, Amsterdam had about 200,000, and twenty other cities had populations over 60,000. Life in these cities was vastly different than before, and their existence affected people who lived elsewhere, in villages and towns. Some of the changes are:
- The rise of the bourgeoisie - Whereas the social structure in medieval Europe was split into two classes (nobility and serfs), increasing trade and business created a new class that the French called the bourgeoisie, meaning "town dwellers." Over time the bourgeoisie came to have more wealth than the nobles, since they often formed mutually beneficial alliances with monarchs anxious to increase state revenues.
- Growth in the gap between the rich and the poor - By the late 16th century, the rising wealth of the bourgeoisie created a growing gap between the rich and the poor. The poor were not only the rural peasants, but they also lived in cities as craftsmen, peddlers, and beggars.
- Changes in marriage arrangements - Most marriages in the rest of the world were still arranged by families, but the custom of young men and women choosing their own spouses started in early modern Europe. This change was partly due to separations between generations that occurred when younger people moved to towns, but also to the growing trend toward later marriages. Craftworkers and the poor had to delay marriages while they served as apprentices or built their dowries, and bourgeois men delayed marriage in order to finish their educations. The need for education was growing because of the demands for business success. For example, participation in long-distance trade often meant learning new languages and/or acquiring legal expertise. Since people were older when they married, they tended to be more independent from their parents.
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The governments that European nations set up in their colonies in the New World reflected their own governments back home. Both Spain and Portugal, who followed the absolutist model, set up expensive, controlling bureaucracies that they tried to rule directly. Both also had as major goals the conversion of natives to the Catholic Church. In contrast, the English principle of the limited monarchy allowed some independence for colonial governments. The English also had less interest in converting natives to Christianity than they did in building prosperous, money-generating colonies. The French were unable to establish few colonial governments with wide control, partly because they found wealth in trading furs. Animal trapping required that men move up and down rivers, and they were unable to set up cities, except in New Orleans in the south, and Quebec in the north.
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